Geography Documentaries (Page 5)

This film appears MOS, but originally had sound and was produced and narrated by the radio world travel radio commentator Deane Dickason. Interesting silent portrait of cultural life in the East Indies during Dutch colonialism.
PA8530 Coveted East Indies, The 16mm Koda travelogue, 2 reels, ca. 1938-39

This film appears MOS, but originally had sound and was produced and narrated by the radio world travel radio commentator Deane Dickason. Interesting silent portrait of cultural life in the East Indies during Dutch colonialism.
PA8530 Coveted East Indies, The 16mm Koda travelogue, 2 reels, ca. 1938-39

National Geographic Drain the Ocean: his is a world you have never seen before - a world normally hidden under miles of water, the ocean floor. We'll remove the water using CGI animation, revealing a landscape of unimaginable scale with features more dramatic than anything on dry land.

Castle Films, whose series 'The Adventure Parade' resulted in a number of commercially exotic films on ethnic traditions and cultures, actually utilized authentic music in this film, instead of the boring orchestral scores that were more typical of the era. Although the continued use of the term "these little men", and the embarrassing attempt to comically portray an older member of the group as a cynic seems condescending to present-day sensibilities, the faithful recording of the building of a vine bridge 50 feet above the water is remarkable. Climbing 150 feet to the top of a riverside tree, a vine is fixed to an ingenious boatswain's chair, and a member of the group is swung to a similar tree on the opposite side of the river. Over the next eight days, a complete bridge of several tons is built of vines, the crossing initiated by climbing either tree to the height of fifty feet. While such films represent proof that even sensationalist films of the era contained often superb ethnographic content, it also illustrates the frustration many of these cinematographers may have experienced in seeing their work dumbed-down for theatrical showing. Nevertheless, the documentary aspect of the footage is important, and represents an authentic, if somewhat clumsy attempt to portray significant elements of faraway cultures. 'African Pygmy Thrills' is historically significant for one other reason: feature filmmaker Werner Herzog has cited his viewing of this film, as a child, as the impetus for embarking on a career in film.

In 1959, social scientist Marshall Segall traveled to Uganda to study the effects of the breaking down of colonialism on the individual citizen. He chose to focus on the Ba-yankole group,in the area of Mbarara, Ankole region. Although not a filmmaker, used a Bolex camera to make a record of his trip. The result, Gentle Winds of Change Uganda (1961, Columbia U) is a fascinating pastiche of social scenes, such as the making of plantain beer, and a local wedding, and political commentary. Several years after the film was released, Segall joined a number of US-based educators who sent a telegram to the Milton Obate-led Ugandan government, in protest of the arrest of liberal publisher Rajat Neogy. In response, the Ugandan government issued a statement breaking off diplomatic relationship between itself and Syracuse University, where Segall was teaching at the time. This remarkable work is the only film Segall ever made.
Segall, a professor of Psychology at Columbia, here investigates the impact of Western Civilization on Uganda, Scenes include a traditional wedding and the making of plantain beer. Segall originally traveled to Uganda for the purpose of making a sociological study, but decided to craft his footage into a film upon returning to the U.S.

Sent by the U.S. government as a participant in the Marshall Plan with a specific mission to assist the French in re-gearing their animation studios, Stapp discovered a Europe much-decimated by war, but in further danger of annihilation by nuclear weapons. Returning to the U.S., he produced this alarming-yet-hopeful film, replete with its lonely, Tanguy-inspired landscapes peopled with static figures casting long shadows across charcoal-colored plains. While taking the risk of leaning a bit toward didacticism, Stapp managed to urgently convey the thought that world destruction was not necessarily inevitable, provided that people embrace, rather than reject their cultural and racial differences. 'Picture' is a unique document resulting from the sometimes dreamy, sometimes nightmarish vision of the artist in a war-torn land, with the spectre of death hovering ever-so-slightly ahead.

Here, Willard Hahn travels to the village of San Diego de Tecoltepec, 6 miles from Toluca. He focuses on the harvesting of maguey juice, the washing of clothes in-stream, and the town's water cistern, as the village has no running water. The villagers board a beautiful old bus to take their goods to the nearby market in Toluca, and walk home to avoid paying the fare of several centavos.

Fourteen international awards, including an Academy Award, Nomination and the Special Prize of the Jury, Cannes Intl Festival. Presents a surrealistic and humorous satire on the Madison Avenue image of the world through advertising. The terrific jazz soundtrack was done by Bob Brookmeyer and Gerry Mulligan, who was a friend of filmmaker Carson "Kit" Davidson. This film was restored courtesy the Academy Film Archive. More on Davidson and his other films you can view at

A magnificent film featuring Pacific Northwest Indian dances of the ancient winter ceremonial handed down among the Kwakiutl families as their way of keeping history. Beautiful costumes and masks are worn by the dancers in this black and white film

Sponsored by the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions, Bill Deneen traveled three days by bullock cart to the remote leper colony run by Father Cesare Columbo in Ken Tung (Kyiang Tong), Burma. Intended to be a film to be used for fundraising, the film is a fascinating documentary about a humanitarian effort that would soon be terminated by the Burmese government, as shortly after the film was made, Columbo was deported, never to return. He is still fondly remembered by the people running the colony, and a small office, with his picture and surgical instruments, still remains. The film discusses the work of Father Colombo as priest, doctor, bricklayer and guiding hand of Kengtung.
In mid-2003, AFA director Geoff Alexander went to Kengtung, Burma, to see what had become of the hospital and programs. Here is his report:
"Kengtung (Kyiang Tong) is best accessed by air, as much of the surrounding area is essentially a war-zone, populated by armies from Burma, separatist movements, and drug traders. The city itself has no electricity for much of the day and night, and a cold beer is not to be found here. I took a motorcycle taxi to the Catholic mission, and asked for the person in charge, who happened to be, at the moment, Vicar Mario Matu. He was aware of Father Colombo, and offered to take me to Columbo's hospital, which still has patients, and where a nun who had worked with Columbo still lived. The hospital in the film sits just outside the village of Naung Kan, seven miles from Kengtung. Now referred to as Hansen's Disease, leprosy is a condition that effectively eats away at skin and bone. The 395 patients are mostly older, with the youngest being 12, and the average age at 30.
"Many of the elderly patients, ravished by the disease, move as best they can by pulling themselves along the ground with what remains of their arms. Many are blind as well. Younger patients fare better, as the disease is easier to eradicate before it has progressed to an extensive state. The hospital is designed so family members of the patients live on the grounds as well, in separate quarters. After release, patients and their families typically move to Kengtung. In terms of economics, the drugs to support the hospital cost $1,250 per month, and the Burmese government contributes roughly $5 per month. Funding, which in a good month will support the hospital, is received from a Catholic group (PIME) which supports the hospital. The buildings built by Columbo still stand, although the upper story of the original hospital has been condemned. Columbo's original operating room, seen in the film, sits undisturbed as a testimony to his memory."

'Wild Men of the Kalahari' (1930) 30m, prod. C. Ernest Cadle. In one of the earliest "talking pictures" shot in western Africa, expedition leader and lecturer Dr. C. Ernest Cadle of the Cameron-Cadle expedition describes the Kung Bushmen as "among the most treacherous creatures on earth". He then "baited them as we would an animal" to gather them for camera shots, and noted their eating habits ("he doesn't chew, but simply swallows like a dog").